Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I was up before the birds and the sun to get in line at the passport office. Because I was lucky enough to have a bright orange ticket I was whisked into the elevator along with one other lucky person to take our places at the front of the line. My papers were fondled and rubbed (my birth certificate had a crease in it apparently) and finally declared good enough to be sent off to for final approval and all going well and the bureaucrat that gets to check my references being in a good mood my passport should be in the mail within five weeks. I will keep my fingers crossed!On the way to the passport office in an effort to keep myself awake I turned the radio to the Phillip Till morning show on CKNW. Phillip always has an unusual news story to share with his listeners. This morning it was about a flock of 90 sheep that just disappeared from a pasture in Switzerland. All sorts of possibilities flood one's mind about this incident. Perhaps a UFO sucked them up to examine them or maybe they just heard how good roast lamb is with mint sauce. I know there are days when I could eat a flock myself. Maybe there were just rustled like cattle are sometimes. However, one listener felt he had the inside scoop and e-mailed Philip to suggest that the sheep had not really disappeared they just "flocked off to greener pastures" .

Monday, October 29, 2007

I took yesterday as a day off spending the time with friends in the morning for brunch and shopping with my daughter in the afternoon. I cut Miss Lucy's walk very short as she is having Halloween jitters from the fireworks going off. Last year they made them illegal so now we only have a couple of weeks of them instead of a whole month!Monday arrived, complete with our usual west coast rain, all too quickly for me this morning. Rolling out of bed before six I asked myself when it was that I started to feel like crap every morning. There was a time I only felt that way when I was hung over. Now, my head may not ache, but everything else sure does. In desperate need of coffee I decided to try and hold together the pieces of the electric coffee maker ( I burned the bottom out of it this weekend. Domestic goddess I am not! ) in order to jump start my body with caffeine. Having accomplished this feat I left the house armed with an extra large thermos cup and feeling as though I might make it through the day after all. However, not long after I got on the road I took a big gulp only to discover I had left the lid slightly undone. I spilled half of it on myself and the car console requiring me to stop and mop up all the while asking myself when I would learn that I am incapable of drinking coffee in moving vehicles or when walking or anything other than sitting down for that matter.While the rest of the day went pretty well, I realized that part of the problem with Monday morning is that there are four more mornings before the weekend!Ah well.... Tuesday is another day and come to think of it another attempt at the dreaded passport office.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

I am a camera addict! Today the weather here was very nice for this time of year. In west coast language that means that it was not raining for a change and as I have had a hectic week and not given Miss Lucy as much time as she would have liked so I thought I would treat her and myself and take her to Kilby for a swim. However, it occurred to me that I would not be able to take any pictures out there what with my camera having been sent to intensive care in Toronto so I borrowed a camera. Yes! I am ashamed to admit it, but I did. I tried to tell myself that I could make it through the day without slamming on the brakes on the car and laying in ditches trying to get just the right angle, but it was hopeless. I knew I would have been totally lost out there with out being able to take pictures. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have to - I am a camera addict.

It is a good thing I borrowed the camera though because I found this really neat old barn .And then this lovely sunset on the way home!I returned the camera and next week I am really going to seek help before this becomes a crisis!

We have a debate going on in our country right now. Some people feel we should not grant immigration to people who cannot speak functional English. Their argument for this is that immigrants without English language skills are unable to understand our country or converse well enough to function in daily life. As well because these immigrants lack these skills it is believed that they are more likely to cost the country money and less likely to contribute to our country. What those purporting to support this have forgotten is that our country is bilingual having French as our official language as well as English.The Parti Que'be'cois, a separatist political party that advocates national sovereignty for Quebec and secession from Canada, has not forgotten however and they are promoting a policy that would see non French speaking Quebec residents denied the right to vote simply because they cannot read or write French functionally and are therefore incapable of understanding the issues that face the people of Quebec well enough to cast a vote.Two very similar views for very similar reasons? Could it be that the Parti Quebecois is demonstrating prejudice towards English speaking Canadians in the same way that some English speaking Canadians are demonstrating prejudice towards non English speaking immigrants?One of the things I have always liked about Canada is it's diversity. As a child it was thrilling to come to China town and see all the shops with dried herbs and teas and Chinese lanterns. I still remember eating at Ho Inn's right in the heart of China town and having servers who spoke little or no English, but worked hard and served us with dignity and pride even taking time to write the kids names on napkins in Chinese. We would treasure these scraps of paper fascinated by the Chinese characters and trying desperately to copy them ourselves. When, as a young woman I had the opportunity to move to this city and work I liked nothing better than to head over to the Italian district on the Drive on my day off and buy sausage,breads and cheese all sold to me by a vendor who spoke poor English, but managed to bring smiles to everyones face.The lower mainland is filled with people from other countries who have different cultures, different religions, different types of dress, different foods and yes different languages, but that is exactly what our country has always been about diversity.For me celebrating that diversity with people from other countries has brought me great joy. It has allowed me to learn more about the world and the people in it than any books or classes could ever have taught me.Living in a country with two official languages, one of which I can't speak, has been a challenge. However when I visited Quebec this past winter I began to understand the rich culture and way of life that the francophone s are trying desperately to hang on to.What I think both groups have lost sight of is that this country is big enough to handle the differences between all of us.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

I was up, dressed and at the passport office fifteen minutes after they opened. I only had to wait about 20 minutes to get to a wicket. Every one who works there from the security guard to the clerks are very helpful and pleasant. However, the rules have all changed as of October 1st!! Of course they have now why didn't I think of that?????The guarantor no longer needs to be in a profession, but all guarantors have to supply THEIR passport information! Something my boss didn't do because he said he had never had to do that before and he has signed dozens of them. So.... no cigar or rather passport! However I did get a bright orange paper and they told me that if I am at the office with the changes made when they open that little orange paper will give me the right to bypass everyone in the line and go straight to the IDIOTS WHO DIDN'T HAVE THEIR PAPERS FILLED OUT PROPERLY IN THE FIRST PLACE line! Says it should not take more than half an hour if I do what they tell me. Believe me I am listening.

Words of wisdom for the week. When tired and in a hurry and confused do not put your full coffee cup inside your purse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Getting my passport has become a year long challenge. First I got my pictures and paper work almost ready and then never got a chance to get my guarantor before summer and my pictures expired and I had to start all over again.Then I discovered while my guarantor was signing the papers this time that every piece of ID I have except for my birth certificate has my first and middle names reversed because my first name is such a dumb ass name (no I am not telling) that I have never ever in my life used it! That apparently may be enough to get me denied a passport until my ID matches my birth certificate, but the only way to find that out is to stand in a line up for about two hours. All this is thanks to the fact that the US has decided we cannot fly into the US with out a passport, but until January of next year we can drive over the border, park and fly anywhere in the US we want we just can't fly home because they won't let us on the airplane! However, after January 08 we cannot cross the border with out our passports and god help any Americans who happen to end up in our country with our theirs because they will not be allowed home and that has created a nightmare of huge lineups at the passport office!Today I went down to the passport office, with possibly defective paperwork ,only to find out that I could not find a parking space because there were oh... about 50 - 75 people standing in the pouring rain under soggy umbrellas waiting to do the same thing I was there for!There is always tomorrow! Maybe... I am beginning to feel like an alien in my own country.After all I have been traveling across the border between Canada and the US since I was 17 years old. Believe me there are a few video cameras in Harrahs in Reno that have my picture while they were asking me to leave because I was underage that will attest to this!I have always felt like Americans were my close relations and I, like many Canadians loved to go and spend money there. Not so any more. It is too much trouble.Despite the fact that I look nothing like any terrorist I have ever seen on TV or the movies and despite the fact that the only legal infraction that I have ever committed in my life was a $25.00 speeding ticket in Florida (Well the only thing I have ever been caught at) the border guards are not friendly. No more smiling or friendly have a nice day from most of them. Instead we get interrogated on a regular basis. This I credit to the nasty rumors that George Bush spread about his brothers and sisters to the north at a time when we, as good relatives should do, were digging deep into our pockets and hearts to send aid in a time of crises for our neighbors and friends.Now don't get me wrong. I think that we need to have security in both directions. I think that we all need to be looking after our collective asses these days (thanks in part to you know who and now our dear leader Harper is now also getting into the act), but for pity sakes friends if I have not blown anything up, stolen anything, grown weed, sold crack or sold government secrets by this age chances are I am not going to.Please give me a break! It makes no sense to me that I have to put out over a $100.00 and several hours of my time just to get a piece of official paper that was acquired using the very same ID I have been showing you all these years to cross the border with anyway!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to the Women's Fair in Abbostford excited about getting some eye candy in the form of those hunky firemen and I had promised Lorelei over at Musings some pictures and I just knew she was waiting anxiously for them! Much to my delight this year the Purex Toilet tissue had guys dressed (or should I say undressed) only in terry robes and slippers at the entrance way handing out samples of toilet paper. While my daughter got in line to pick up tickets I whipped out my camera to get a picture of this particularly good looking guy in a bathrobe thinking hubahuba my lucky day only to discover that my lens button was missing on my camera!?!?!? Talk about misfire!! Fortunately my daughter searched around and found the missing piece, but it was impossible to take any pictures there with it. The fair was fun even still with lots of goodies being handed out. I especially like the samples of the wine and shooters. I liked it so much I got in line twice. What the heck I had to drown my sorry over my camera somehow especially when I passed the table with all those good looking firemen signing calendars. I almost cried... only because I had promised Lorelei some of those pictures and I know just how badly I was letting her down. After all how many good looking firemen can live in Podunk USA? Sorry Lorelei - maybe next year :(After the fair we headed over to celebrate Eid with Sitara a good friend of my daughters. Every year we get asked to this and I always marvel at how different cultures celebrate. According to the Muslim religion, after the fast of Ramadan, all Muslims are supposed to put on a feast and give one third to the poor and one third to their friends and family and one third then goes to themselves and I can tell you they take this very seriously. This family actually rents a hall and prepares for days to put this feast on. Quite amazing considering while they are buying and cooking for this they are not allowed to eat or drink until after sundown every day!I love to see the outfits that these beautiful women wear to this event. They are so elaborate with bright colors and intricate bead work. As well, many of the ladies including Sitara wear eye popping jewelery. This year the men were wearing Kandura's or dishdash as they are sometimes called. This is a long white cloak and is typical male attire in the UAE . The men were also wearing the Guthra the headscarf worn by the men and wrapped with Egal, the black rope. It was a very colorful and interesting affair and the food was delicious. I was so disappointed in not being able to get pictures that I spent some time fiddling with the lens button finally managing to snap these few pictures before my camera quit again!!

What ever will I do without my camera for the next six to eight weeks??? Grrrr Sony I want you to know I am not happy about this!!!

Friday, October 19, 2007

It has been a frantic week and the weekend doesn't look like it will be much quieter just more fun I hope!Tonight I am going to a Taste of British dinner. It is a fund raiser for the Surrey Green Timbers constituency , but for the first time in two years I am not going to work it! I get to sit with the people, chat and eat my dinner. I feel like I have just graduated or something?!Tomorrow it is the West Coast Women's Fair. This is the event my daughter and I look forward to all year. It is so much fun there and most years the Fire Fighters turn up to entertain the ladies. I am soooo looking forward to it.Later that afternoon my family is attending a friends Muslim Eid celebration which marks the end of Ramadan.Our weather is supposed to be miserable. With parts of the province seeing quite a bit of snow. For us ? You guessed it MORE RAIN!!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Well the week has been full to the max. I feel as though I have not stopped running since I got up Monday morning. I have risen before the chickens and worked till late most evening and the sad part is I am not really sure that I have accomplished a whole lot. Oh well maybe it has an accumulative effect.Tonight however I dragged my weary bones away from my computer to go to a rousing meeting of the parks board for Delta. For any of you planning to do anything like that in the next while I would advise against going if you are tired. I had to keep pinching myself to stay awake. I only went to hear the issue on dogs, but we had to listen to something about grass in some park somewhere and let me tell you there is a reason I am not a gardener. Anyhow about those big bad dogs and dog owners in Delta some interesting facts:

According to the Delta Humane Society there are approximately 10,000 dogs in Delta!

The Humane Society fielded 400 complaint calls about dogs in Delta in the last year and while they cannot give us exact details only a very few were about dogs off leash.

The Humane Society issued a total of 50 fines in the past year for dog related violations and again only a very few were because of off leash infractions.

Given the statistics, which some how never made it into the newspaper along with all those nasty stories about dogs running amok on the streets and in the parks, chasing cats, squirrels and birds not to mention knocking over little old ladies and wildly licking babies, does Delta really want to invest a lot of time and money coming up with a system of rules to enforce something that according to the facts does not need increased policing???Do we really have a problem with dogs in Delta given the statistics?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Most of us are well fed and comfortable and we tend to think of poverty as being something rarely seen. When we do see poverty we often tend to resolve our conscience with the belief that a once a year donation to the local food bank will resolve the issue. The truth is that poverty is an insidious disease that often the start of a life and death struggle for survival. Many do not survive. In fact Stand Up Against Poverty tells us that 50,000 people a day die in this world from extreme poverty! No that is not a typo! And if you think that is only in third world countries like Africa - think again. The gap between the rich and poor is getting wider all over the world. Here in Vancouver all you have to do is drive down to the east end to see people sleeping in doorways, begging on sidewalks and lined up at the food banks. Despite what the media would like us to believe many of these people are on the streets through no fault of their own. Some are there because of the mismanagement by government. Mental health patients were turned out of the hospitals with no support or housing made available to them. Seniors, single parents and disabled have few housing options open to them and buying food and clothing on fixed incomes and in some cases single incomes can be an impossibility. All this in a wealthy country. Imagine the devastation in poor countries often run by corrupt governments.In 2000 189 leaders signed the Millennium goals and promised to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

October 16 & 17 th Stand up Against Poverty calls for people around the world to stand up and speak out. Remind our leaders that they made this commitment and the clock is running.Today I was asked to take a picture of 50 Invergary Learning Center students standing up and speaking out about poverty.

Invergarry Learning Center Staff and Students Standing UP and Speaking Out against poverty.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Well it IS Monday again isn't it. Why does the weekend seem to go so fast and the week days feel like they will never end?!?! This morning I really didn't feel like starting a new week, but if I must I thought I would try and find something amusing to get me through the day. So while reading a paper and downing my third cup of coffee to get me jump started for the day ( or should I say jolted?)I found these quotes from Will Rogers. He never made it past the tenth grade, but his wisdom shows that book larn'n isn't everything.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment

If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there. (HeHe someone should have told this one to a few people who are on some volunteer boards I know about)

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him... The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.

There are three kinds of men: the one that learns by readin, the few who learn by observation, and the rest of them who have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

I spent a busy Sunday doing a little of everything. I did get a chance to take Miss Lucy to Mud Bay for a quick walk this morning. It was the first time I have been there with her, but I think I will go back again soon. It is not the best place to walk her, but it is a great place to see birds as part of it is a bird sanctuary and I am hoping that the eagles that usually nest along the edge of it in the winter will be back again this year. In order to get there you have to drive a dirt road that is pitted with pot holes. Not terribly good on the car. However sometimes there are some great views of the mountains from here and between that and the eagles I should be able to get some good winter pictures I hope. Also it is only about 15 minutes from home by car.

The weekend has been very warm and as I couldn't get out much yesterday I tried to get out as much as time would allow me today. I know it is the last of the warm rays for a long time. The weather people are predicting a miserable winter. Cold, lots of wet snow and of course rain, rain and more rain.

So late today I went out back to check on the garden and look at the last sunflower. It is a beat up sad looking thing, but I love sunflowers and this time of the year they seem to be one of the last flowers standing in the gardens. They seem to bring a bright last smile to say goodbye to fall while we tumble into winter.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Sometimes I think our country can be summed up in the notes we write above the toilets in washrooms around the city. In three different languages they tell us what we can and cannot put in the toilet....something I thought was just common sense, but in the last three years more and more places have added the statement "don't stand on the toilet seat"????? Like who does that??? and why??While I am on the topic of toilets. You really can find everything on the internet. I came across this site Toilets from Around World These are just a couple of examples of the incredible pictures of bathroom fixtures from around the world that he has collected on his site. The only thing is he is missing my favorite - the outhouse!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Thursday, October 11, 2007

I have lived in the lower mainland since I was 16 years old except for four years that I was forced to live in hell... oh sorry Florida. No offense, but any place that is that hot and has that many nasty bugs, snakes and gators is hell to me. For the most part the city has been decent to me even if sometimes hard, but now either I have lost my affection for it or it is just time to live a slower life. Either way I have begun to pray for the day I can get out of here. The one thing that has made living in the city bearable in the last six years has been living in Delta. Life, in Delta, except for the grid lock traffic over the bridge, has been pleasant and quiet.The part of Delta I live in is a blue collar working man's area with few rentals and most of the homes are older family homes. The people are friendly, but not in your face kinda people. I know all my neighbors to say hello, some I visit with occasionally and most of them would look out for us and lend a hand in a pinch.Almost every house has at least one dog and on a Friday night our local pet store is almost as busy as Save-on-Foods. People here do not scrimp on their animals and alot of people bought homes here because of the abundance of green spaces including Cougar Canyon and of course Burns Bog. As well Delta has been one of the few places where, if dog owners are responsible, we have not been harassed by the Delta Humane society over walking our dogs off leash even though we have a "no off leash" law in Delta. All year round you will find dogs and their guardians walking, jogging and playing especially in the bog. In fact in the winter dog walkers are really the few people who brave the mud and ankle deep water in the bog to walk there however all that is now about to change. The Burns Bog Society has decided they want us out of there and have put pressure on the Delta bylaw people to enforce the leash act and have used all kinds of bad press to make their case. They claim that people have been bitten by dogs in the bog, that dogs are threatening the delicate environment in the bog and that after all there is a "no off leash" law in Delta.I am sure that everything they have to say is true. I am quite sure that people have been bitten in the bog, but I would probably be accurate in saying that they have not been bitten any more in the bog than in any other park or area in the summer in the city and actually if we could track the numbers I bet it is far less than some of the other areas around the lower mainland. In the five years that I have been taking Lucy, usually three or four times a week twice a day, I have not once seen anyone get bitten or even threatened by a dog although I have had people tell me that someone's dog had bitten someone. Usually though these dogs don't return to the bog as their owners no longer feel comfortable in letting them off leash and that is the way it should be. As for environmental damage that is just a joke ! They certainly haven't been screaming about the teenagers that go to the bog in the summer and drink beer leaving broken bottles and garbage strewn everywhere. Garbage that dog walkers routinely clean up and pack out of the bog. They also were not particularly interested when I reported to them that paint was being dumped into the creek in the bog on a daily basis for a few summers.The truth is that the dog walkers have really done little or no damage to people or to the bog itself and most of the people who walk their dogs there have helped build the paths and walkways as well as fought to protect that bog. The truth is that someone is trying to get control over this area by throwing out the very people who helped save this bog from destruction in the first place. For myself and a few others, if we cannot walk our dogs off leash in peace there then we are finished. Finished not only with the bog, but with the city as well. I won't give up my dog and like most big dogs they need exercise. Either the city of Delta provides us with that or we will all have to move on and sadly some people will have to give up their dogs because they can no longer keep them active. For me it may be simply time to leave the city and head to the country. Something I have been longing to do for a long time.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

I love the Cariboo. It is a place rich in history and beautiful beyond description. I am told the sun shines most days of the winter even when the temperatures dip below -30C which would be a vast relief from the constant dark dull days of winter here on the coast. Nature is all around you and everywhere you look the colors are exquisite. Rich golds and yellows and browns greet the eye everywhere you turn and every now and then you get lucky as your drive down the road, window open to breathe the fresh scent from the pine tree forests that line the road, you get to see a deer or two darting through the green pine trees. Well, that was the case two years ago when I was last there, but this time the deer are darting through reddish brown dead trees thanks to the pine beetle infestation. I could not believe what I was seeing as I drove the highway. Everywhere I looked there were dead and dying trees. I cannot fathom how this will ever work itself out. They tell us that we need a deep freeze in the province in order to kill this menace off, but they also tell us that we are in a warming trend and that we are not expecting that to happen. In the meantime what are we doing? Nothing that I can see and the devastation to an area like Deka Lake is beyond belief. I took a walk around the lake with Lucy and on almost every piece of property there were stands of dead trees or people had cleared their property in an effort to prevent the trees from catching fire or from falling on their homes in a bad storm. I had to ask myself what happens on the hillsides when the snow and rain come? What will the impact on wildlife be? The beetle I am told is capable of striking other trees when it runs out of fresh pine. What will happen then?

I am deeply saddened by this and find it unthinkable that we have been unable to do anything about this incredible pest that is destroying our forests and wildlife as well as threatening the livelihoods of many northern communities.All the way home I was saddened by the devastation that I saw out my windshield. I can only pray that we find a way to put an end to this.

Monday, October 08, 2007

I just returned home from the Caribou. The weather was great and I had a wonderful time. As you can see by this picture the vibrant fall colors are like glittering jewels and make this a delightful place to reflect on thankfulness. I am very thankful that Lucy and I got to make the trip. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving weekend too.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

It is Thanksgiving this coming weekend and I am taking a break with Miss Lucy. We are driving up to 100 Mile House tomorrow and staying until Monday morning. the drive takes about 5 hours and takes you through some beautiful cattle country. My friend Ali moved there last year and hasn't been back to the coast since. She tells me she has no desire to leave the bush and is quite happy with her five cats. I can understand quite well how she feels because when I get up there I don't want to come back either. Ali actually lives in Deka Lake, a 20 minute drive from 100 Mile, a community that is mainly summer homes. I have a great time when I am there. Lucy and I hike and of course I take pictures. This time of year the colors of the changing leaves is breath taking. Last time I was there I took pictures of the most decorated outhouses . I was quite taken with the creativity of people up there when it comes to their outhouses.Lucy has two reasons to go there the first being the constant access to swimming and hiking all weekend and the second to be spoiled rotten by Ali. Lucy not only gets to sleep with Ali she gets all the belly rubs she wants and Ali always cooks her a steak!I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend. See you next week!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Friday I went to this lovely new little Italian restaurant near my house with friends and had a wonderful dinner of homemade Crespelle, the Italian equivalent of French crepes, stuffed with spinach and cheese all covered in a creamy sauce and shredded cheese. Yum! It was delicious.. I took my camera to take some pictures of this little place as I am writing a review of it for BC Restaurants, but the place was so busy that I did not feel it was a great time to do that and I ended up forgetting it there. Fortunately I remembered about two hours later and was able to get to them before they all left for the evening.Note to self - don't take camera when you are going to eat too much good food and drink too much good wine!

All weekend long I have been doing little things to get ready for winter that all too soon will be here. Most of Saturday and Sunday I spent getting rid of old summer clothes and packing the rest of them away and then getting out my winter clothes and seeing what I will need this year. I do this little ritual twice a year Spring and Fall every year and usually look forward to the coming seasons to some extent, but this year I am really dreading winter. We seemed to have so little summer here and what we did have I did not have much time to enjoy it so I am dragging my heels kicking and screaming for more sun, more time out doors with out being bundled under several layers of clothing, more time to take pictures of sunsets instead of rain drops. I can' t remember when I have felt less like facing winter. Alas I must put chin up and find something to enjoy in this sloppy drizzly wet cold dank west coast winter.

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"Discover the dreams in your heart and dedicate yourself to making them come true. Along the way help others make their dreams come true as well. Don’t GIVE UP! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and when you feel you are too beaten down to take another step, get someone to give you a lift in their little red wagon." (Unknown)